well here's one way to put an end to combative parents on the sidelines of Youth Sports if Spectators in Deptford Township have an issue with an umpire's call well they're going to have to suit up and make the call themselves the town is trying the new approach after a series of verbal attacks on volunteer umpires forced them to quit hoping it'll curb rude behavior and remind parents it's just a game Ted Goldberg reports when Jim McDevitt owns Little League baseball in Deptford most of the parents are reasonable and respectful most of them every once in a while you might have a parent that's a little bit out of hand and you have to go have a little talk with them and make them understand hey you got a lot of children young children here you know they follow your lead in a let's not teach our children to be you know aren't disrespectful to the umpires or to the coaches or to anyone I would say probably 95 percent of the time those parents got it and they apologize and they back off but that five percent of parents who are verbally abusive actually caused two of deptford's umps to quit in the first two weeks of the season so the town is trying a new tactic anybody who verbally berates an Umpire or steps onto the field to complain about a call we'll now have to work as an ump for three games under supervision or be completely sidelined with a year-long ban from all youth sports events in Deptford not just baseball we want them to be able to feel the tension that we do out in the field when there's a bang bang play out there somewhere and they have to make that call now half the half the team half the people are going to be happy with the call and of course the other team they're not going to be happy with the call it's maybe the five or ten percent rule most parents are very good they just want to come out here and enjoy the game Bachelor kids son and daughters play but it's always that certain few and for whatever reason they go over the top and we just want to make them realize stop going over the top come out here and enjoy the game and let everybody else enjoy it too mayor Paul medaney says the township previously had rules on the books for punishing fiery fans but they weren't the easiest to enforce we know most of the folks too so that that makes it a little more challenging when you know your friend your neighbor and they're getting out of control and you got to go up to them and say hey you got to calm things down but their child's playing so they got blinders on to that fact these are our neighbors these are our friends you know we we have to keep that in mind too but but not at any cost Don bosuffie is the president of Deptford Little League he says he doesn't want verbally abusive fans to start fights and make Deptford internet famous for the wrong reasons but zuffy says this rule isn't a muzzle he still wants parents to cheer loud he just doesn't want them to swear or use other language they normally wouldn't use in front of children we understand people get excited that's not what this is about this is with the abuse the expletives the the um the name calling to people that took the time to volunteer for these people that are yelling for their children people get excited when their kids are up to bad if their child gets thrown out or you know that them type of things happen we're okay with that as long as you don't come down and start screaming and hollering at the Umpire or screaming and hollering at the children it'll be okay once you do that time to go we're trying to give these children life lessons you know a sportsmanship respect your camaraderie and they they put a monkey wrench in the gears when they do this this rule has been on the books for two weeks and so far no parents have had to call balls and Strikes yet the folks at Deptford Little League tell me they hope it never comes to that and they hope fans can enjoy watching kids play ball without making umpiring a miserable experience in Deptford I'm Ted Goldberg [Applause] NJ Spotlight news [Music]